Economic outlook for the production of ethanol from forage plant materials

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1980 · Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Fuel Chem., Prepr.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6920548

Moreira, A R ^[1]; Linden, J C; Smith, D H; Villet, R H

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1. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins

As an alternative to woody biomass, vegetative forage crops may be good substrates for ethanol fermentation due to their low lignin content. In this research project, vegetative alfalfa, vegetative sudan grass and vegetative, mature and ensiled sorghum species were tested as possible feedstocks for ethanol production. Results are presented here for the yield of sugars via cellulose hydrolysis of these materials and for the projected alcohol production costs for a 25 x 10/sup 6/ gallon/year plant. These costs ranged from $1.68/gallon for vegetative sudan grass to $2.58/gallon for vegetative alfalfa. Substrate costs comprised the major fraction of the total cost. This leads to the conclusion that a viable process economics depends on options such as the following: use of unconventional crops; stillage protein credit; co-hydrolysis of starch in immature grain component and sharing of feedstock production cost with mature grain harvest.

• OSTI ID: 6920548
• Report Number(s): CONF-800814-P3
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Fuel Chem., Prepr.; (United States) Journal Volume: 25:4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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AGE DEPENDENCE
ALCOHOLS
ALDEHYDES
ALFALFA
ANIMAL FEEDS
BIOCONVERSION
BIOSYNTHESIS
CARBOHYDRATES
CELLULOSE
CEREALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COST
DECOMPOSITION
ECONOMICS
ENZYMATIC HYDROLYSIS
ETHANOL
FERMENTATION
FOOD
FORAGE
GLUCOSE
GRAMINEAE
GRASS
HEXOSES
HYDROLYSIS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
LEGUMINOSAE
LIGNIN
LYSIS
MONOSACCHARIDES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC WASTES
PLANTS
POLYSACCHARIDES
SACCHARIDES
SOLVOLYSIS
SORGHUM
STILLAGE
SYNTHESIS
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION
WASTES